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SAN RAMON — Throwing a culinary trend into reverse, food truck operators are applying the brakes. After years of making meals mobile, some owners are converting their concepts to brick-and-mortar establishments. It’s not easy to drive in reverse gear, but a “bridge” in San Ramon sheds light on the process.
At PG&E-owned Food Service Technology Center’s 9,000-square foot commercial kitchen appliance research and testing facility, engineers in lab coats replace chefs in hats to evaluate the efficacy, safety and energy conservation of state-of-the-art ovens, braising pans, steamers, dishwashers and more.
The research extends beyond frying, convection or induction cooking, sanitizing and other culinary activities to include full-spectrum subjects, like ventilation, water heating, outdoor air load calculators and building energy efficiency operations that include lighting. FSTC’s services, seminars, videos and publications offer resources to manufacturers and to end user food service customers such as chef Walter Abrams.
Exiting his “rolling chef” position and opening Dabba (Hindi for “lunch box”) on July 11, Abrams is executive chef and partner with CEO Andy Mercy of a new 2,000-square-foot restaurant at 71 Stevenson St. in San Francisco. Inspired by Avatar’s, a restaurant in Marin County owned by brother and sister Ashok and Kalathat Kumar who wanted to spread their brand, Dabba intentionally had its earliest incarnation as a food truck.
The unmistakable black truck emblazoned with a bold, orange elephant graphic offered the perfect way to develop the menu while searching for a brick-and-mortar location.
Investigating equipment and locations with the help of FSTC was smoother and less worrisome than going it alone, Abrams said. “Once I hooked up with Fishnick (FSTC’s educational services), a lot of stuff came clear to me; especially with equipment. Every chef likes to cook on a good stove.”
Experts like lead engineer Mark Finck offered fact-backed information and unique, try-it-before-you-buy-it opportunities.
“End users think they’ll have to give up on performance to save energy,” said Finck. “Chef Walter brought in his materials and tested the equipment in our kitchens.”
Learning the difference between two ovens saved $30,000; switching from a traditional steam table to steam induction wells saved energy and keeps moist foods warm and crust-free. An FSTC audit of the location resulted in energy savings and water conservation.
Abrams says developing a restaurant is a path paved with pitfalls — and back steps are always costly. Even after spending two years to select the spot he said offers surefire opportunity because it’s across the street from a planned transbay terminal and in the sight of 1,700 employees in a nearby office building, there were surprises.
Discovering a parking garage under the planned restrooms meant flipping and redrawing the design, which required reapplying for permits. “Hire an expediter who’ll stand in lines for you,” Abrams advised.
Other obstacles were equally hard to predict. “Inside, we gutted the building and rebuilt it. It was pretty gnarly, but we uncovered beautiful beams that we kept. And we received the place a few months late. That’s the name of the game: it’s always going to be delayed.”
Abrams said that even though they secured investors early on — money they raised “out of the gate” was used to buy the food truck — the final three weeks before opening included lots of expenses. “I don’t think I put my credit card away. It was just swipe, swipe, swipe.”
Alejandra Gamarra has already transitioned his successful taco truck to a Mexican restaurant and two Bar & Metro Taquero establishments in Hayward. Looking to expand into the Tri-Valley, he is seeking the FSTC’s help in scouting locations. Gamarra said he’s heard the area’s developers prefer national brands to locally-owned restaurants.
“It’s embarrassing that Taco Bell and Chipotle are the best-known Mexican restaurants in America,” he said.
To learn more about FSTC, visit http://www.fishnick.com/about/overview.


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Lego was crowned as the UK's best-loved brand this week. Does a desirable brand always equate to profit? Natalie Calvert says it's more complex than that.
Strong brands appeal to customers on an emotional level. Businesses which succeed in making us feel like they share our values and our aspirations are incredibly powerful - we as customers want to be part of that brand and that ‘feeling’ they inspire in us.
This is why Lego has just been announced as the UK’s most popular brand. Lego has done a great job diversifying, moving into films and video games while retaining the sense of fun and exploration that has made the plastic bricks so enduring. People have an affinity with Lego and this has helped propel the brand to the top of many people’s list.
The list also acts as a warning to those organisations which have a strong brand but let it wane. BA was until recently the UK’s preferred brand year-after-year, but has fallen to a lowly 27th position in the latest survey. Why? Because while adjusting its pricing to compete with the budget airlines and the emergence of premium brands such as Emirates, BA got stuck in the middle. It has so far failed to appeal to either those looking for the cheapest flights or those able to afford luxury. In doing this, BA has lost the one thing that made it so desirable - that brand ‘feeling’ that customers wanted to be part of.
Does a strong brand make a profitable brand?
However, there’s a crucial point to make about brands and their value. Yes, the popular UK brands are able to exploit the positive feelings they inspire to grow. But don’t assume that the most popular brands are automatically the most successful.
Amazon and Google fail to provoke the kind of emotional connection that Lego and some other brands do, but they are financially far more successful according to this survey.
Amazon and Google have become behemoths because they create a strong, recognisable brand built on an irresistible proposition. You might not get emotional about Amazon’s 'faceless' ordering system, but you’ll not find a more convenient or comprehensive shopping service. And this is why we use it, again and again.
Facebook is a great example of why you don’t have to be an inspiring brand to be successful. Few of us ‘love’ Facebook. In fact, the majority of people I speak to or who reference the social media platform are more in the 'loathe' rather than 'love' camp. Yet Facebook is the 5th most valuable brand in the world, valued at $90 billion. It continues to be incredibly popular for personal use and the data it holds means that advertisers value it for targeting prospects. Therefore, Facebook succeeds despite its poor image.
This doesn’t mean that brand value is a red herring. The point is that brand is a complex thing. It’s about finding the right balance between nurturing a brand that people love and creating a brand which is financially successful. The question is, which type of brand do you want to build?

domain: news


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- Is Apple bringing back Touch ID?
- Is Apple Touch ID Safe?
- Should I wait iPhone 12?
- Why is the iPhone 11 so heavy?
- Is Touch ID better than face ID?
- When did iPhone get Touch ID?
- Will the iPhone 11 have Touch ID?
- What is the last iPhone with Touch ID?
- Is there an iPhone 12?
- Will iPhone 12 have 4 cameras?
- Will iPhone 2020 have Touch ID?
- Should I buy an iPhone 11 or XR?
- What’s the worst iPhone?
- Is there going to be a iPhone 12 in 2020?
Is Apple bringing back Touch ID?
Apple will likely be bringing its beloved Touch ID biometric authentication sensors back to the iPhone in 2020, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Face ID is more secure than Touch ID and its camera module allows for additional photographic features.
Is Apple Touch ID Safe?
Face ID and Touch ID are Generally Secure In general, Touch ID and Face ID are secure. Apple claims that there is a 1 in 50,000 chance that someone else’s fingerprint will falsely unlock your iPhone and a 1 in 1,000,000 chance that someone else’s face will do it.
Should I wait iPhone 12?
Yes it’s true that you’ll have to wait for the iPhone 12 till it’s launched in the market. Potentially we’re looking at 2-3 months for the launch. However, a report says that due to the pandemic, the production is facing some problems which could cause a slight delay.
Why is the iPhone 11 so heavy?
The new 11 Pro phones are nearly as thick and heavy as the standard 11 — the smaller iPhone 11 Pro is 6.67 percent thicker and nearly half an ounce heavier than the XS — presumably due to Apple adding beefier batteries in the new models.
Is Touch ID better than face ID?
Face ID is way more secure than the Touch ID. Apple said that the chances of a random face unlocking your phone are 1 in 1,000,000 while the risk of a random finger unlocking your phone is 1 in 50,000. Hence, it can be concluded that the Face ID is 20x more secure than Touch ID.
When did iPhone get Touch ID?
Touch ID was first introduced in iPhones with 2013’s iPhone 5S, and has been included on every subsequent iPhone until it was replaced with Face ID on the iPhone X. Following the iPhone X, Apple released the iPhone SE (2nd generation) in 2020, which includes Touch ID in a design similar to the iPhone 8.
Will the iPhone 11 have Touch ID?
The in-screen fingerprint technology is naturally destined for the flagship high-end iPhone models. For the 2019 iPhone 11 series announced next week, it is expected to feature an improved Face ID system that will work at more angles, but do not expect anything drastic like the inclusion of Touch ID.
What is the last iPhone with Touch ID?
Touch ID was replaced with face-scanning sensors in 2017 with the iPhone X launch. Branded as Face ID, the new face authentication again put Apple ahead of the competition with a more robust and secure implementation than rivals. Apple is also working on its first low-cost iPhone since the iPhone SE.
Is there an iPhone 12?
According to JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee, Apple will release four new iPhone 12 models in the fall of 2020: a 5.4-inch model, two 6.1-inch phones and a 6.7-inch phone. … So the 5.4-inch and one of the 6.1-inch models will be the lower-end devices, presumably called the iPhone 12.
Will iPhone 12 have 4 cameras?
Other than screen size, the biggest differentiator between the iPhone 12 models will be camera technology. Essentially, Apple is planning two iPhones with dual-lens camera systems and two iPhones with triple-lens camera systems. The 5.4-inch iPhone 12 will feature two cameras on the back.
Will iPhone 2020 have Touch ID?
But now we know Apple has something much more exciting lined up. Last month, a major Bloomberg exclusive revealed Apple is bringing Touch ID back with the 2020 iPhone.
Should I buy an iPhone 11 or XR?
Both devices are smooth in operation but the iPhone 11 offers a better battery life than the iPhone XR, even though the iPhone XR is actually very good still. Both models come in 64GB, 256GB and 512GB storage options though, and microSD for storage expansion isn’t available on any model.
What’s the worst iPhone?
The Worst iPhones of All Time, RankediPhone 5c.iPhone 4. … iPhone 3G. … iPhone 6 Plus. … iPhone SE. Maybe it’s just me, but the iPhone SE is a confusing plateau for Apple’s typically progressive design. …
Is there going to be a iPhone 12 in 2020?
At a rumored 5.4 inches, the 2020 iPhone 12 will be the smallest iPhone Apple has released since the 4.7-inch iPhone SE. At 6.7 inches, the 2020 iPhone 12 Pro will be Apple’s largest iPhone to date, which is the 6.5-inch iPhone 11 Pro Max. The two 6.1-inch models will be similar in size to the existing iPhone 11.


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After increasing in May, air traffic declined 1.8 per cent in June. Domestic airlines carried about five million passengers during the month, compared with 5.1 million passengers in June 2012.
The April-June quarter is considered a good travel season, as it coincides with school and college holidays. In April, air travel had registered a drop of 0.4 per cent, before increasing 4.8 per cent in May.
In June, overall demand slipped 6.7 per cent, while modest growth in capacity was recorded. IndiGo maintained its leadership position, with 29.5 per cent market share. Jet Airways, along with its subsidiary Jet Konnect, retained the second spot with 23.1 per cent share, followed by SpiceJet (19.5 per cent), Air India (18.9 per cent) and GoAir (8.9 per cent). “Usually, travel demand tapers in June-end/early July, as schools reopen. We witness demand slowing during this period,” said Manmeet Ahluwalia, marketing head of online portal Expedia. To raise volumes, domestic airlines are offering incentives and discounts, as traffic slows in the July-September quarter. While most airlines are offering lower fares for 30-60 day advance bookings, Jet Airways is offering discounts through select agents. Industry sources say the carrier is offering discounts to increase market share and boost forward bookings.
Full report here Business Standard


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Yungaburra’s impressive strangler fig, which is more than 500 years old, will be used to entice hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Atherton Tablelands as the latest Discover visitor guide hits the shelves of information centres across the East Coast in time for Easter.
Michael Trout, chairman of Tropical Tablelands Tourism (TTT) and member for Barron River, said he was excited to once again launch the annual publication at Crystal Caves this Tuesday, March 18 at 10.30am.
He said each year a new hero shot depicting an iconic location across the Tablelands is selected and this year, the Discover committee could not go past the gigantic fig tree.
“The Tablelands receives 500,000 visitors every year and we want them to discover every part of this amazing and diverse region. Thanks to our members, TTT has once again been able to create this definitive guide to the area.
“2014 is going to be a really exciting year for Yungaburra. The Avenue of Honour, which was officially opened in June last year, has become a real drawcard for visitors and this is likely to increase when the inaugural Soldier On Triathlon is held later this year.”
Published annually by Tropical Tablelands Tourism, the award-winning 54 page glossy magazine is the most widely distributed regional publication in Australia.
Each year 150,000 copies find their way as far afield as Cooktown, Mackay, Karumba, Mt Isa and Barcaldine, and consumer travel shows Australia wide as well as information centres in the North Queensland region.
Mr Trout said this year, the magazine had continued to expand its content, with dedicated editorial on the surrounding regions.
“Visitors to the Tablelands can come via a number of means – the Palmerston Highway near Innisfail, the Gillies Highway south of Cairns, the Kuranda Range, via Mt Molloy and the Cooktown Development Road from Cape York.
“We want Discover to be potential travellers’ first point of contact and in the process highlight just how easy it is to reach the Atherton Tablelands from anyone of these other key regional destinations.
“These are all world class drive routes and extremely important gateways to the Atherton Tablelands.”
Mr Trout said readers could also find information on unique adventure activities that can only be seen on the Tablelands including a section dedicated to Lake Tinaroo.
As in previous years, the publishers canvassed both visitors and staff at the region’s Visitor Information Centres to ensure accuracy and relevant content.
Michael Trout said the refreshed and updated editorial and design throughout the magazine ensured its
ongoing utility for visitors.
Posted by Bronwyn under Tablelands News | Posted on 14th Mar 2014


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PSA PSA: Replacement Jack Stands Recalled
The Harbor Freight saga continues, with the company now issuing a recall of the jack stands meant to replace earlier jack stands recalled due to their collapse risk.
After calling back its 3- and 6-ton Pittsburgh brand stands, the tool company learned of a mechanic who did exactly as he was told, trading in his old, defective 3-ton stands for a new set. However, the new stands couldn’t handle the weight of a Volkswagen Golf. So here we are.
A notice on Harbor Freight’s webpage lists the item numbers of an expanded list of products, describing what kind of refund or store credit owners can expect when they turn them in. You’re encouraged to shop, of course.
The new list is more extensive than previous, and now including 12-ton models. Initially, the issue was that the stands could collapse suddenly when burdened with the weight of a vehicle. There’s still a callback on those models; the latest list concerns models that, while not recalled due to safety concerns, some owners might not feel comfortable using. It’s a good faith gesture on the part of the company.
However, the 3-ton model whose base split along a weld after encountering a Golf is under recall (note: image above does not depict this specific model). Via a letter to customers published by Road & Track, Harbor Freight owner and founder Eric Smidt apologized for the loss of customer trust.
“I’m disappointed and embarrassed because we’ve identified a welding defect in a small number of the Pittsburgh 3 ton steel jack stands (SKU 56373) that replaced the recalled jack stands,” Smidt said. “We’re now adding these jack stands to our recall. Unfortunately, this defect wasn’t discovered during the initial recall investigation.”
He added that the rest of the company’s jack stands were examined for the same fault, and turned up nothing. In the second explicit apology of the letter, Smidt said, “While we’ve dramatically grown our team of engineers and inspectors, and intensified our tests and inspections, I assure you that the lessons learned from this will drive further improvement.”
[Image: Harbor Freight]
SSJeep on Jul 08, 2020
HF just resells stuff from China using generic brand names. So when they say, “While we’ve dramatically grown our team of engineers and inspectors, and intensified our tests and inspections, I assure you that the lessons learned from this will drive further improvement.”, you can be assured that the level of "tests and inspections" before the recent recall were close to zero.
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- Oberkanone Cost of EV's will continue to increase as demand for materials to manufacture batteries increases. Owning a personal vehicle will only be attainable to the wealthy.
- Kcflyer I think it's ugly. Unless they lengthened the cab the back row is still useless for me anyway. Price is proof that I may have purchased my last new vehicle
- Ltcmgm78 I must laugh because this is an expansion of the old question of why car manufacturers don't build less expensive cars. There's no money in it! As long as virtue signalers have the long green to buy the pricier EVs, there won't be any affordable ones until most of the demand for the expensive ones are met. Economics, you know. New technologies always progress this way. The future Chevy Vega on the Ultium platform is a long way off.
- Daniel J Also, the additional 20K is spread out over a loan, which could end up closer to 24K.
- Wolfwagen When will GM and Dodge/Ram come out with a BOF 2 door sport utility? Im not one that jumps on the first year new vehicle bandwagon, but for a new Ramcharger, I'd sleep out in front of a dealership for days to be first in line for preordering (or infront of my computer for hours)


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Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2013, 3:10 pm
Distillery, brewery partner for LeClaire expansion
Comment on this story
By Jonathan Turner, email@example.com
"Mixed drinks" are taking on new meaning at Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire, as the 2-year-old business plans to expand and partner with Great River Brewery in Davenport.
More photos from this shoot
Photo: Gary Krambeck|
Paul Krutzfeldt, founder of Great River Brewery in Davenport, left, and Ryan Burchett, distiller manager of Mississippi River Distilling Company in LeClaire, show some of the products that will be featured when the proposed 7,000-square-foot expansion to the distillery is completed. The expansion will be for Great River brewery to brew specialty beers on site and create a tasting room that will serve both companies' products.
This summer, the two companies will build a two-story, 7,000-square-foot addition on the north side of MRDC, 303 N. Cody Road, to allow for increased production.
The brewery will make new craft beers, the two will work together to produce a beer whiskey and an ale aged in whiskey barrels and visitors can get samples and buy items from both businesses in the GRB tasting room.
"When we built this building, we planned it to last five years, but after two years we're bursting at the seams," MRDC co-owner Ryan Burchett said of his 6,000-square-foot brick building.
"Everything's happening a little faster than we ever planned. We'd be looking at this on our own anyway. With these guys coming to the table, it's such an exciting opportunity that it pushed us forward on everything."
GRB, which has less than 6,000 square feet at 332 E. 2nd St., Davenport, started in 2004 as a brew pub in Iowa City. In December 2008, it moved the entire brewing operation to Davenport with plans to package its beers.
Today, it makes six varieties and sells to restaurants, bars and retail outlets in six Midwest states, with plans to expand into Wisconsin, co-ownerPaul Krutzfeldt said.
"Each year, our production has almost doubled in size," he said. "We've had a couple products that have been around four years, but the growth of those is still growing. We've been wanting to do the next line of beers for a long time, but we don't have enough space in our current location."
The two craft alcohol firms have collaborated for two years on a marketing effort with Irish Dog Bloody Mary Mix called "Think Local, Drink Local," promoting them in local stores. The idea is "to highlight the fact that our products are made here in the community and show people the diversity of what's available to them," Mr. Burchett said.
"As we've grown and things have evolved, we've started looking at different projects we can do together," he said, adding that when he heard GRB was looking for a second location, MRDC was a perfect fit.
"With the economies of scale, building together, the opportunity to have an adjoining brewery is just fantastic for us," Mr. Burchett said. "It takes this whole thing what we do here, the tourist draw and things, to another level -- to have two of these not only in the same town, but in the same building."
Hard liquor is licensed and regulated differently than beer and wine, meaning that GRB customers can consume full servings of its beers on site, but MRDC customers cannot in LeClaire.
MRDC -- which distributes to seven states, including Texas -- offers product tastings (including gin, vodka, bourbon and rye) after each free tour and at Friday events.
GRB will not duplicate brewing of its current lineup in LeClaire, Mr. Krutzfeldt said, adding that he wants to brew some beers with higher alcohol volume. "I don't have space to brew the things I want to brew, more vibrant, more intense flavors, but smaller batches. It gives us a chance to put them in 22-ounce bottles, serve them that way.
"It's a whole new line of beers for us," he said. One may be aBarrel Aged Farmer Ale this spring. GRB already has 3,000 gallons of its Farmer Brown Ale aging in MRDC barrels, he said. "It pulls out what little whiskey is left in the barrel, and pulls out characteristics from the wood."
In the new building, MRDC occasionally will produce beer whiskey, distilled from GRB beer, Mr. Burchett said. "When youdistill alcohol out of their beer, it's a whole different flavor."
"The cool thing is what we do in small batches, we can do something with the beer we may never replicate again," Mr. Krutzfeldt said. "There used to be beer and light beer, and people never knew what stout or pale ale was. They discover new flavors."
Despite the recession, the two companies have done well because of the boom in the craft-beer industry and the trend for consumers to buy local, the men said.
"In terms of competition, there are certainly a lot of breweries right now," Mr. Krutzfeldt said. "While there's a lot and competition is high, there's still a lot of market to gain. There are still people that can become converts from yellow beer."
"As a 2-year-old business, it used to be -- 'there's s a distillery in the Quad-Cities?' At least people know we're out here now," Mr. Burchett said. "There's a consumer who's drawn to craft beer who never may have dipped their toes into the craft spirits world. We want to get people who appreciate small beer to look at small liquor. That's a huge part of the puzzle we're trying to put together."
The "Think Local, Drink Local" motto continues for both, as GRBuses Davenport's Redband coffee beans in its Redband Stout, and MRDC uses grain from farmers within a 25-mile radius.
As it sells in other states, "that story is not local to them, but consumers appreciate we're accountable for the ingredients we use from a local standpoint," Mr. Burchett said. "That's been our real selling point, even away from the (Q-C) market."
"People love that. They want to support local," Mr. Krutzfeldt said. "We don't look at ourselves as competing against the locals -- Front Street, Bent River, Blue Cat. We push the Quad-City culture, in terms of the beer industry."
The economy also has helped MRDC in keeping residents in the region local, who can't afford to vacation farther away, Mr. Burchett said. "People are looking for those day trips, looking for something fun. There's enough to do in LeClaire now," he said, noting that he gets visitors from Des Moines, Peoria and Iowa City.
The $750,000 building addition will be split between the brewery and distillery, and owned and operated separately, with windows between the two.
"These are two totally separate businesses, operating totally independent of each other," Mr. Burchett said. "There will be projects that we do together. But from a legal standpoint, from a licensing standpoint, as manufacturers, they will be separate facilities. You won't be able to walk from the distillery into the brewery."
GRB also plans to buy property across the street in downtown Davenport for new offices, to allowexpansion of its tasting room, Mr. Krutzfeldt said. Its tasting hours are 4 to 9 p.m. MRDC offers daily tours on the hour from noon to 4 p.m., and First Friday events each month from 5:30 to 8 p.m.
For more information on the companies, visit mrdistilling.com and greatriverbrewery.com.


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GAINESVILLE, GA – The average values for both cars and trucks have continued to increase, with cars now up for five consecutive weeks and trucks for three weeks, according to Ricky Beggs, Black Book VP and managing editor.
Beggs reported an average of 1,461 vehicle values adjusted each day throughout the week, with the overall change of all adjustments increasing $71 – matching the record amount for the week ending April 9, 2010, almost exactly a year ago.
Entry-level and mid-size cars both increased by a significant $131. Four other segments climbed from $66 to $79 during the week – the entry sporty cars, premium sporty cars, compact cars, and the upper mid-size cars.
“I am not the least surprised as five of the [six] segments are made up of between 55-88 percent import vehicles and mostly smaller, more fuel-efficient models,” Beggs said.
Only one of the 10 car segments – prestige luxury cars – declined, experiencing a $15 drop the past week.
Several vehicle values were impacted by the extended plant closures in Japan, with some Prius model-years increasing by $800 and some late-model Mazda 6 going up in value by $700 for the week, Beggs noted.
On the truck side, only a few selected pieces depreciated, and the overall change level was up again this past week. Eight of the 14 segments were positive adjustments led by the $93 increase with mid-size crossovers. The softest segments were the full-size, luxury, and mid-size SUVs. Full-size pickups were also on the positive side this week at +$18, as well as compact pickups at +$11, which Beggs attributed to their “versatile functionality.”
More current 2011 model-years are also showing up in the marketplace, Beggs noted.
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April 7, 2022: Chinese lead and lithium batteries group Leoch said in its full-year results announced on March 31 that strong overseas demand for batteries helped it increase profit and revenue in 2021.
Net profit for the period, ended December 31, was Rmb166.7 million ($26 million) — up from Rmb138 million in 2020.
Overall revenue increased 17.4% over the previous year to more than Rmb11.3 billion.
Revenue from lead acid batteries was nearly Rmb9.25 billion (Rmb8.3 billion in 2020) and recycled lead products totalled revenue of more than Rmb2 billion (Rmb1.3 billion).
Leoch chairman Dong Li said the increase in batteries revenue was boosted by overall growth of 27.3% in overseas markets, while growth in the domestic Chinese market was 0.4%.
Revenue from the EMEA region increased 36.2% to almost Rmb1.9 billion. In the Americas, revenue was up 50.2% to more than Rmb1.5 billion while revenue fell 12.6% in the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China) to just over Rmb780 million.
Li said overseas buyers had turned to Leoch as a “stable source of supply” amid continued disruption in global production — despite longer delivery times caused by global delays in sea freight as international markets began their recovery from pandemic lockdowns and related restrictions.
Revenue from recycled lead products rose to more than Rmb2 billion (previously Rmb1.3 billion).
Li said Leoch’s recycling plant was fully utilized in 2021, hitting its permitted maximum production capacity of 200,000 tonnes.
Revenue of around Rmb1.367 billion came from the sales of recycled lead products in 2021 to an unnamed single customer, which contributed to more than 10% of the total revenue of the group — including sales to a group of entities which Li said were known to be controlled by that customer.
Meanwhile, Li said Leoch continued working on new models of lead acid and lithium ion batteries and “rolling out new products tailor-made for applications in each of the network power and motive market segments.
“Although there was no aggressive expansion in production capacity for lead acid batteries in 2021, we are gradually expanding our production capacity in lithium ion batteries according to our strategic plan.”
However, Li said Leoch had hit the “fast forward button” since 2020 in producing products to support the development of 5G telecoms networks, including lead and lithium batteries for various applications.
He said 5G projects were forecast to rapidly increase demand for lithium batteries in base stations from 2021 to 2025, adding: “We expect the demand for lithium iron phosphate batteries used in communications will continue to expand.”
Leoch aims to use its lithium ion manufacturing base to capture new opportunities in the LFP sector, Li said.


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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/2/2013 (1617 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The latest booze news was a little hard to swallow.
Just as news hit that consumers were about to be served a double price increase, a risqué rum found itself on the rocks.
First, the Selinger government leveled another levy at consumers. As reported yesterday, liquor and beer prices are going up on April 1.
In not making an early April Fool’s joke, Manitoba Liquor Control Commission spokeswoman Karen Hiebert said the price surcharge will see a domestic 12-pack of beer go up by 80 cents and a 750-ml bottle of spirits rise by 47 cents.
“We do this in conjunction with supplier price increases,” she said, meaning the full price increase for liquor and beer won’t be known until suppliers adjust their costs.
While so-called sin taxes are usually easy to swallow for the teetotallers, they tend to stiff those who savour the aged grape, flip for fermented sugar cane and have a passion for malted cereal grains.
But it’s a high-proof tax for a broke government.
Although beer prices in Manitoba will remain among the lowest in Canada, according to a provincial spokesperson, the additional cash will help fill up the province’s general revenues.
Canadian Taxpayers Federation Manitoba director Colin Craig said he believes price increases are being designed by the Selinger government to increase revenue to the province.
And you don’t need beer goggles to see that.
“You’ve got a party that’s been spending like drunken sailors and now they’re taking it out on everyone who buys alcohol,” he said.
Hey, Colin, that’s pretty funny.
But still, aside from the price hike — which it could be argued will hit those hardest who shouldn’t be drinking in the first place — what was the MLCC thinking when it came to the rum rumble?
Consumers were aghast to hear yesterday that bottles of rum bearing the name and likeness of legendary adult-film star Ron Jeremy had been temporarily pulled from Liquor Store shelves following a customer complaint. One customer complaint?
Liquor Marts already stock a variety of products with sexually suggestive or otherwise edgy brand names, including Sex on the Beach shooters, Kinky liquor and Ménage à Trois wines.
But something about Ron de Jeremy went too far for a single stick-in-the-mud. The bottle’s label features Jeremy’s face, but no reference to his work in thousands of pornographic films. The product went on sale in 26 Manitoba Liquor Mart stores on Jan. 24, but was summarily withdrawn just nine days later.
After being shaken and stirred on social media yesterday, though, the suggestive spirit was quickly thrust back onto Liquor Mart shelves. Officials — wasting time like only government officials can do — now say they found nothing inappropriate about the product.
Hiebert described the decision to yank the product as a matter of erring on the side of caution.
After that one complaint.
We say the rum is fine. It’s the price hike that’s giving us a headache.
And we can assure the Selinger government there are many, many more complaints about the price hike.
So if one complaint is all it takes to get a policy re-examined … then consider this a gripe about the rising cost of the grape.


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REVIEW: Google Pixel 6 Great, Except For The Black Thing On Its Rear
Google has dropped billions trying to get a place at the smartphone table. Now the big search Company appear to be on the right track with their new 5G Pixel 6 and 6 Pro smartphones, which come with all-new Android 12.
I’ve been using the new Google 6 for a few days now, and the latest Google offering has a lot going for it, despite it being a budget device. The specs are okay, the only problem is it’s branded Google, who up until now has struggled to be taken seriously in he phone market.
The Google 6 is very responsive and fast due in part to Google incorporating their first proprietary chipset called Google Tensor. It also appears to be processing images and interfacing with the image sensor quicker and faster than several other 5G smartphones we have tested.
Because it is a budget device it only comes with 6.4 inches, 1080 x 2400 pixels (Full HD+), AMOLED display, which is okay but not as good as the more expensive 6.71 inches, 1440 x 3120 pixels (Quad HD+), AMOLED display.
Google used 100% recycled aluminium for the body of the Pixel 6. It looks and feels good, and the sides have a matte finish. It also has IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
One thing I would like to see is the new Android 12 OS, which is running on the Pixel 6, running on a Samsung Galaxy Android device. I believe the new Google OS, is a massive improvement on previous Android operating systems, the combination of a brand-new OS and the Google Tensor processor is a big improvement for Google.
While delivering significant functionality gains, the Pixel 6, UI is cleaner and easier to navigate though you do have to be patient as you work through new ways to access functions and operate apps than previous operating systems.
While the new Google Pixel 6 is a real threat to the Samsung A series and mid to affordable premium smartphones from the likes of Nokia, TCL, Oppo and Motorola, it’s carrying a lot of baggage from the failure of previous Google smartphones that has to be overcome.
Google is throwing hundreds of millions marketing this device, as they have done in the past. The big difference this time round is they’ve finally got a device that lives up to expectations.
My biggest gripe is a big thick bar across the back of the device.
This ugly design houses cameras and sensor array, it’s odd intrusive and takes a lot of getting used to.
It’s a design feature that grows on you over time, with the top half of the device well and truly raised up off a flat surface and my concern is whether it’s going to be durable for the long haul.
Previous issues, like the Pixel 5’s screen gap, which didn’t become apparent until a few weeks after the device officially launched and started landing in the hands of consumers appear to be a thing of the past.
The Pixel 6 is very comfortable in the hand and weighs just 207 grams.
It comes with an option of 8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB of storage, which is ample for a device that is selling for around $999.
The device has a a 4,612mAh battery, which performed really well and I suspect the new OS and a new processor combined is adding to the better battery performance. I got one and a half days out of this battery before having to recharge.
Wallabies shot from a distance, image not as sharp I would like.
The Pixel 6 has dual 50 + 12 MP, f/1.9 + f/2.28 MP f/2.0 front camera. This is in comparison to the top-end Google 6 Pro that is selling for $1,299.
Fern tree using Pixel 6
This device if you want to step up has a triple 50 + 48 + 12 MP, f/1.9 + f/3.5 + f/2.2 11.1 MP f/2.2 front camera array.
I tested this camera in overcast conditions, and it performed well, as these pictures show. Even close-up pictures looked good.
Image colours were extremely accurate vs the image being shot but it’s not as good as the Samsung Galaxy S21 camera which is selling for $1,099 at JB Hi-Fi.
The device uses Samsung’s Exynos 5123 modem, which has been tuned to function with Google’s custom Tensor processor.
This is an old modem that was also in the Samsung S20. I compared the Pixel 6 with the S20 and Motorola’s new Edge 20 Pro which is selling for $899 and there was no difference other than it’s an old model modem which happens to be not broken and still delivers 5G, however it could struggle in some environments.
The Galaxy S21 is using Qualcomm’s X60 5G modem and this along with several other pricey components is the reason why you will pay more for this device.
My biggest problem was the Telstra network.
I tested this device in Nelson Bay on the NSW North Coast and the 5G reception was more 3G and at a struggle 4G.
I do want to do a review of the Google 6 Pro, as spec wise as it appears on paper that this device could be a better deal, especially as smartphones have become a key part of daily life, especially in this COVID era, where constant tapping and QR coding is essential via a smartphone.


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MU researchers have devised a plan that would clean “spam” out of the inboxes of e-mail users who dislike the unsolicited messages while helping ad-friendly users save some money.
The model, developed by Clyde Bentley, an associate professor of journalism at MU, and doctoral student Anca Micu, aims to satisfy customers, Internet Service Providers and advertisers at the same time.
“There’s a lot of eagerness to hear this research,” Bentley said. “It crosses a lot of boundaries.”
Under the model, the ISP would direct spam to those customers who agree to accept the messages in exchange for a lower Internet service fee. To cover the cost of the discounts to consumers, advertisers would pay the ISP. Then, customers would view advertisements via e-mail.
Bentley said both the U.S. newspaper industry and the commercial broadcast industry are based on similar methods of advertising.
“Newspapers charge readers just a small percentage of the cost of producing their product, collecting 80 percent or more of their revenue via advertising,” Bentley said. “Broadcasters provide free content courtesy of the businesses that pay for commercials.”
Bentley, an advertising scholar, said the extreme dislike people have for spam is a result of how it is defined and delivered.
“The question was, if spam was seen in that same way (as television and newspaper ads), would it be accepted?” he said.
Bentley and Micu surveyed 2,140 university community members to find the answer. The data was divided into two groups, students ages 18 to 25, and non-students. The results showed that 63 percent of the students and 37 percent of the nonstudents were willing to accept spam under the model. They also found the younger participants and those paying higher Internet fees more willing to accept spam for a discount.
Wes Harden, a student at MU, said he receives almost 50 unwanted e-mail messages in his Hotmail account each day. Although Harden finds them “annoying,” Bentley said they are necessary to keep the Internet functioning.
“The dirty secret of the Internet is there is no free lunch,” Bentley said. “There are costs at every level and someone has to pick those up.”
Harden said he would consider accepting additional spam if given the choice. However, he would first consider factors such as the volume of extra e-mails, the quality of Internet service and the amount of the discount.
“If I’m getting cable Internet for half the price, I could probably deal with it,” Harden said. “If I’m paying $5 less for 56k, I probably wouldn’t — I’d probably just pay the extra five bucks.”
Survey participants were asked just how much of a discount it would take for them to accept more spam. Forty percent of the students and 24 percent of nonstudents said they would agree to the plan if they received a 40 percent discount in the price of their Internet service.
“It may sound like a lot, but it’s really not that much considering the subsidy in broadcast is 100 percent,” Bentley said.
Bentley and Micu presented their research last week at the International Conference on Politics and Information Systems: Technologies and Applications in Orlando, Fla. Bentley said he has yet to discuss details of the model with ISPs, but he thinks it could catch on in one to two years, if not sooner.
“If this is shown to be something that is a successful model, the logistics of it are very little,” Bentley said.


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|16th July 2012, 07:48||#1|
Join Date: May 2010
AMD cuts prices on the high end GPUs - in preparation for the dual GPU HD 7990?
The sped-up HD 7970 GHz edition came out last month to knock down the GTX 680 from the gaming performance throne. Now, and before another top level announcement, the rest of the high end line up received price adjustments to further attack Nvidia gamers' holdout.
|Thread||Thread Starter||Forum||Replies||Last Post|
|AMD Dual-GPU Radeon HD 7990 to Launch in Q1 2012, Packs 6 GB Memory||Stefan Mileschin||WebNews||0||26th December 2011 06:14|
|NVIDIA cuts GTX 400 prices||jmke||WebNews||0||6th August 2010 16:56|
|AMD Cuts CPU Prices||jmke||WebNews||0||5th October 2009 09:35|
|Intel cuts Core 2, Pentium prices||jmke||WebNews||0||19th January 2009 17:34|
|AMD Cuts CPU Prices With Launch of New Products||jmke||WebNews||0||27th August 2008 16:44|
|Intel cuts its prices across the board in Q3||thorgal||WebNews||11||18th March 2007 10:12|
|AMD cuts prices||jmke||WebNews||0||19th October 2004 09:37|
|AMD Cuts Prices of Server Chips||jmke||WebNews||0||9th May 2004 00:44|
|Intel Cuts Prices On Top; AMD Doesn||the maniak||WebNews||1||29th October 2003 20:10|
|Intel cuts prices for its processors||jmke||WebNews||4||28th October 2003 00:04|


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NEW YORK (Reuters) - The contract that established Apple as a corporate entity in 1976 and another document, signed 11 days later, that removed one of the partners are expected to fetch up to $150,000 when they are auctioned next week by Sotheby’s.
The December 13 auction of books and manuscripts will also include a letter from Franz Kafka complaining of writer’s block, a set of cartoons from Playboy founder Hugh Hefner and a telegram announcing the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.
A 1944 letter from Albert Einstein, where he remarks to a friend on the progress of the Second World War and corrects the record to say his manuscript on relativity has not been destroyed by the Nazis, is expected to fetch at least $60,000.
But the sale of the Apple Inc contract, available several months after the death of co-founder Steve Jobs in October, is expected to be the biggest draw.
“Because of Jobs being so focused on in the news, and his accomplishments, it just seemed like the right time,” said Richard Austin, the head of the Books and Manuscripts department at Sotheby’s.
“People have been reminded of how important and how influential he is - someone who contributed to technology and to social history and had such a profound impact.”
The contract establishes the Apple Computer Company and states that Jobs and Steve Wozniak will each be given 45 percent of Apple’s shares. Ronald Wayne, who drafted the contract, was given 10 percent.
But within days, Wayne had decided not be become involved with the fledgling technology company. Wayne was paid $800, and later another $1,500, and was released from the contract. His 10 percent share would today be worth $2 billion.
Jobs left Apple in 1984 following a power struggle with the company’s board of directors but returned to the company in 1996. He would become the central figure in transforming Apple into one of the world’s largest and most envied companies.
Wayne sold the documents to a private collector in 1994.
It was not immediately known if Apple was interested in bidding on the document.
“Wonderful things always sell and there are wonderful and unique things in this sale,” Austin said.
Reporting by Edith Honan; editing by Philip Barbara


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Micro-LED displays, a display technology first brought to life as a concept seventeen years ago, may be poised to overtake the market in the future, as manufacturers look to improve on currently popular OLED technologies. Admittedly, it may seem a bit backward that a technology first invented in 2000 and later shown off in 2012 by Sony could make a comeback and improve on technologies from 2017. However, the problems that held micro-LED panels back in the past were mostly tied to production problems which made the displays prohibitively expensive to create and production itself difficult to scale for a mass market. Meanwhile, they also had and still have several distinct advantages over current screen technologies. That means that even though it could take years before televisions, smartphones, or other hardware bearing micro-LED screens are sold to consumers, the market could easily shift in that direction. In fact, as recently as May, even Samsung has begun looking into snapping up micro-LED manufacturers and several other companies have begun filing new patents for the technology. Unfortunately, there are still several major problems to overcome, as well.
At a glance, both micro-LED and OLED share a degree of similarity in that both technologies use LEDs to allow each sub-pixel in a display to create its own light for much higher contrast ratios and true blacks, as compared to LCD display technologies. Each uses a thin-film transistor (TFT) layer to provide power to the LEDs. With that said, a key difference between the two is that micro-LEDs do not use organic materials, instead opting for materials found in a standard LED. That gives the technology several advantages over its counterpart. Not least of all, it allows the LEDs themselves to be much smaller – at less than the width of a human hair – which could, feasibly, lead to not only thinner displays, but also to displays with a much higher resolution than current technologies allow for. Beyond that, with more Pixels squeezed into a smaller space, smaller screens can take advantage of far higher resolutions.
The benefits of micro-LEDs don't end there either. They are also more energy-efficient than current display technologies, with micro-LEDs being able to generate as much brightness as OLEDs using only around half as much power. That also translates to around 90 percent less power consumed using LCD technology. Furthermore, they solve one major problem with modern advancements to displays in that they have a much longer lifespan than OLED – which effectively cut display lifecycle in half, or down to around 14,000 hours, from the previous LCD technology. Micro-LED displays should increase lifespan significantly, with similar non-organic LEDs having a lifecycle of around 50,000 hours, in addition to offering a substantial reduction of the screen-burn-in problems associated with that other technology. At the same time, micro-LEDs also have a response rate that is up to a thousand times better than OLED, which means they could solve the current technologies tendencies to create motion blur while improving framerates.
There are several implications to consider with those advantages in mind. First, displays created using micro-LEDs could become much lighter than their counterparts, since the LEDs are considerably smaller and there is no need to include the polarization or encapsulation layers current technologies use. That also means displays can be thinned down, of course, but micro-LEDs displays can also be manufactured to be flexible and that flexibility could be improved further because of that reduction in size. However, those are likely the small gains to be made from a consumer perspective. More important to end-users, particularly in the smartphone, wearables, and portable computing categories is that the intrinsic advantages of micro-LED could mean huge improvements to battery life. That's thanks to the energy savings mentioned above. A higher brightness than that of current displays could also be achieved while maintaining contrast, for screens that see a lot of outdoor use such as smartphones or smartwatches, while still using less energy. Better still, that would actually represent savings to the consumer over time since they wouldn't need to charge up as often. Better screen resolution and improved response times would translate to a higher degree of immersion and fewer problems with motion sickness in VR, as well. Having said all of that, those use-cases are really just the tip of the iceberg, as the tech industry has proven to be very inventive when improvements are made to previously used technologies and often in unforeseeable ways.
All of those benefits could also mean nothing at all and this could be a case similar to historical circumstances wherein an arguably better technology lost out to its rivals. Unfortunately, micro-LED faces a lot of the same problems. Most importantly, even though a few companies are holding onto small bets in the technology, almost all of the current panel manufacturers are focused primarily on OLED. That's not without reason, but it doesn't bode well at all for micro-LED, seventeen years into its existence. First, as with nearly all technological advancements and as mentioned above, micro-LED is prohibitively expensive. Before the protesting over how long it would take for costs to come down starts, it has been estimated that the displays would raise the price of the devices they are included in by as much as three to four times. With technology giants placing so much effort into the potential presented by OLED displays, there's no guarantee the prices would drop quickly enough for the consumer market to really bloom.
That's all down to the methods available for the creation of displays featuring such small components. Each of the micro-LEDs, first of all, needs to be placed into an array configuration. Although, that's not impossibly difficult to do for something as small as a smartwatch, scaling up to even the size of a smartphone is a big leap in complexity. Millions of micro-LEDs need to be configured onto a circuit panel controlling each individual red, green, or blue diode in order for micro-LED displays to work. Currently, the mass manufacture of displays allows for an accuracy of placement down to around ±34 micrometers. Micro-LEDs, on the other hand, would require accuracy to be cut down to around ±1.5 micrometers. By way of comparison, there are around 10,000 micrometers in a single centimeter. That not only slows the processes involved in the manufacturing of micro-LED displays but also creates further problems as the scale goes up because more of the LEDs need to be added to a much more larger, and more complex, control board. Those are problems that market analysts believe could start to be addressed by 2019 at the latest. That's a long way off in terms of technological advancements, which also leaves plenty of time for some new display technology to be discovered – which could serve to further discourage manufacturers from pursuing micro-LED displays.


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Wait times for both the Nio ES7 and ET7 have gone from about 3 weeks to 6-8 weeks, and for the ES6 from about 5 weeks to 3-4 weeks.
(Image credit: CnEVPost)
Nio's (NYSE: NIO) two more expensive models have longer wait times in China, while the new ES6 has a slightly shorter wait time.
Consumers locking in orders for the Nio ES7 now are expected to get deliveries in 6-8 weeks, up from about 3 weeks previously, the latest information from the Nio App monitored by CnEVPost shows.
Nio launched the ES7 on June 15, 2022, with the first delivery on August 28, 2022.
The ES7 is Nio's second model based on the NT 2.0 platform after the ET7 sedan, and the first SUV on the second-generation platform, with a starting price of RMB 438,000 ($61,000) including the battery.
The wait time for the Nio ET7 in China has also gone from about 3 weeks to 6-8 weeks today.
The Nio ET7 was originally launched at the Nio Day 2020 event on January 9, 2021, the company's first sedan, with deliveries beginning on March 28, 2022.
On the first day of the Shanghai auto show on April 18, Nio launched the 2023 ET7 with prices starting at RMB 428,000, the same as the previous version. Deliveries of the new ET7 begin on May 19.
While the wait times for Nio ES7 and ET7 have become longer, the wait time for the new ES6 has been reduced to 3-4 weeks today from about 5 weeks previously.
The electric vehicle maker announced on June 24 that deliveries of the new ES8 will begin on June 28. The Nio App currently shows the wait time for the model is still June.
The new ES8 was launched on Nio Day 2022, December 24, 2022, and is Nio's transition to the NT 2.0 platform for its first production vehicle.
The Nio EC7 currently has a wait time of about 4 weeks, the same as before. The wait times for the ET5 and ET5 Touring are also unchanged at about 3 weeks and 3-4 weeks respectively.
($1 = RMB 7.1795)
(Screenshots on June 26, 2023)


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“Rich women have rarely done their own dishes, cared for their own children, or even fucked their own husbands.”
A polite titter ripples among the 13 or so people gathered at a book club on a Thursday evening in London.
A YouTube video beamed onto the wall with a projector, called “What the f**k is social reproduction?” by communist organisation Plan C, isn’t your usual nibbles ‘n’ Neapolitan Novels book club fare. But this isn’t your usual book club.
With meetings in pubs, people’s flats, bookshops, libraries and university campuses – like this grungy meeting room at the University of London’s SOAS, just off Russell Square – a group of publishers are reviving an anti-fascist tradition that flourished in 1930s Britain.
Pioneered by the left-wing publisher Victor Gollancz in 1936, the Left Book Club was created to educate and energise left-wing readers in the face of burgeoning fascism. (After the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939, the club tried to distance itself from its Communist roots.)
“The spring of 1936 was an auspicious time to start a book club catering to the Left,” wrote publishing historian Gordon B Neavill in 1971. “A sense of looming catastrophe was in the air. The depression had seriously challenged capitalism as a viable system.”
As one of the first book clubs in the UK, it both revitalised the British left and publishing industry – with 57,000 members at its peak in 1939, 1,200 groups meeting across the country, and over 70 titles published and distributed. (A Right Book Club was soon set up by Foyles in 1937 to counter its success.)
The Left Book Club’s dissemination of socialist ideas was even said to have influenced the outcome of the 1945 general election – with eight authors published by the Left Book Club forming the newly elected Labour government, including the new prime minister Clement Attlee, and six further authors on the Labour backbenches.
To be a member, you had to subscribe for a minimum of six months. Each month, the Club chose a book, and circulated unique Left Book Club editions exclusive to members via booksellers and newsagents. At two shillings and sixpence, these were usually two to four times cheaper than when the same books would hit shop shelves after members had received them first.
Since 2014, staff at the radical indie publisher Pluto Press have been resurrecting the Left Book Club, which officially launched as a not-for-profit with a website last year. With the rise of populism, and an emboldened far right in Europe and beyond, they feel now is the right time to revisit Gollancz’s project.
“The situation we’re in now is so very similar to what was happening in the late Thirties, or even early Thirties,” says Veruschka Selbach, managing director of Pluto Press and director of the Left Book Club.
“It’s frightening when you really look at it, when you look at what’s happening in the labour market – the whole idea of AI coming in, robots taking over jobs, this was happening in the early Thirties: that exact same thing was happening with mechanised production.”
She also links “huge technological change” brought by the internet with the arrival of the aeroplane back then. “The aeroplane really changed the way we see the world, and the internet has really changed how we see the world. And the internet is now allowing us to do this in a different way.”
“There was a massive economic crash on Wall Street, then there was a massive depression. The value of wages had dropped so no one was earning enough money, there were hunger marches, people were starving, there was massive inequality, so the elite were seen as very out of touch with the workers and seen to be exploiting them,” says Melanie Patrick, programme manager of the Left Book Club, drawing parallels with today’s inequalities.
“And there was fascism, Oswald Mosley starting the British Union of Fascists here, you had Germany, Austria, Italy…”
A website and mailing list has helped the new Left Book Club sign up members – as of March, they had around 400 – but it is also using old methods. Like the original set-up, they print their own unique editions of their chosen books for members and the prices are low (£4.99 for a book every other month, and £8.99 for a book a month). Books are sent in the post to members.
To try and reach as broad a membership as possible, they have books coming through from big mainstream publishers like Penguin to the tiny anarchist publisher Dog Section Press.
“It’s actually the most affordable way to get these books,” says Patrick. “And for a lot of the new books coming from big publishing houses, our edition will often be cheaper than their edition. So it is absolutely guaranteed the most affordable way.”
The discussion I attend is of the 2012 book Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle by Silvia Federici, the scholar behind the feminist Wages for Housework movement.
Members – who include people working in publishing, academics, a man visiting from the Netherlands and a Labour Party staffer – get stuck in to a meaty yet impeccably polite discussion about unpaid labour and gendered work. Ideas prevalent on the left today, like universal basic income, crop up.
There’s nothing particularly remarkable about debating radical politics at one of the UK’s most left-wing universities. But the Left Book Club is a small sign of a wider effort to counter right-wing populism in the UK with old-school methods – just as protest culture has been revived by issues such as Brexit, Britain’s response to Donald Trump, and climate chaos.
“This is for us to create a rigorous political intellectual project,” says Left Book Club’s communications coordinator Brekhna Aftab. “But then to engage with activist groups and to get them to use the LBC as a springboard for really informed political mobilisation, I think. So it’s to put theory into practice.”


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The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) Scottish Game Fair is set to provide the Perthshire economy with a potential £5 million boost over the course of this weekend.
According to market researcher, Jump Research, accommodation providers, restaurants and other local businesses in the surrounding area are set to benefit from the arrival of more than 30,000 visitors and nearly 300 exhibitors for the three-day annual festival of countryside and conservation.
The event, sponsored by NFU Mutual, returns for the 32nd time to Scone Palace on new dates from Friday, September 24 until Sunday, September 26.
Exhibitors, sponsors and staff will swell the numbers further, while around 100 people will be on site for four days before the event begins during the construction phase.
Highlights this year will include gundog competitions and the food theatre, with plenty of great talks and demonstrations to get taste buds tingling.
Across all three days, visitors can expect to see a huge variety of demonstrations of everything from falconry to pipe bands in the main ring.
Show director James Gower commented: “This much-loved annual event draws people from all over Scotland, so the material increase in tourism will be tangible.
“Pretty much every hotel and restaurant surrounding Scone Palace are fully booked.
“Tens of thousands of people venturing to Perthshire will provide a timely economic injection to the hard-hit hospitality sector post-pandemic.
“The benefits of an event like this are far-reaching for so many, from those with a single room AirB&B through to multi-national hotel groups.”
Perthshire Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive Victoria Unite added: “This is a timely boost for businesses trying to get back to something approaching normal after a devastating 18 months.
“The hospitality sector has been particularly badly affected and so the economic spin-off to restaurants, hotels, B&Bs, bars and other catering businesses is extremely welcome.
“ Perthshire has a long association with The GWCT Scottish Game Fair and events such as this showcase the wide array of dynamic businesses in our area.
“It is so good to be back hosting major events like this after such a testing time and we know it will be a huge success.”
More information can be found at the GWCT Scottish Game Fair website.


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A group seeking voter approval in November of a solar-energy ballot initiative shelled out $1.77 million this month for advertising, according to a newly filed finance report.
Consumers for Smart Solar, which has been heavily funded by electric utilities, paid the money to National Media Research, Planning & Placement, a Virginia-based firm.
Consumers for Smart Solar also paid $6.5 million in May to National Media Research, Planning & Placement for advertising.
The Consumers for Smart Solar proposal, if approved by voters, would add to the state Constitution existing rules that allow Floridians with solar equipment on their property to sell energy to power companies.
The measure has drawn opposition from groups such as the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, which contends the amendment is designed to favor utilities.
Consumers for Smart Solar has raised slightly more than $16 million since starting in July 2015 and had spent $15.6 million as of last week, the finance report shows.


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If political book-buying habits were a good gauge of voters' electoral preferences, Mitt Romney would be a very happy man.
A new Amazon.com feature called the Election Heat Map 2012 (flagged by our Post colleague Mike Rosenwald) divides best-selling political books into conservative (red) and liberal (blue) categories, then tracks sales in every state.
And the country's reading habits appear to be much more conservative than its voting patterns.
Amazon's map assigns each state a shade of blue or red depending upon how many "red" and "blue" books have been purchased there during the last 30 days. The map is predominately red, save for five Eastern states and the District Of Columbia, which are blue, and Pennsylvania, which is evenly split. Nationally, 56 percent of purchases were red books while 44 percent were blue books.
Right now, the best-selling "blue" book is “A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present,” by Howard Zinn, while the top "red" book is “The Amateur,” by Edward Klein.
How did Amazon decide which books fall into the "red" and "blue" categories?
"The Amazon Books Editorial team pulled extensive lists of best-selling books in relevant categories and vetted them using a variety of tools for clear partisan leaning, separating them into red and blue categories. Many books, of course, have no clear political bias, and therefore were not included. The top 250 titles in each list will power the Heat Map, based on customers’ book-buying habits," the company said in a release.
It's clear that a state's red or blue status on the Amazon map does not exactly correlate to the way it is expected to vote in November. For instance, the entire West Coast is red, even though President Obama is expected to carry California, Washington and Oregon with ease.
And it's not a perfect science. Books not purchased via Amazon aren't taken into account. Additionally, as the company notes, there are books that don't neatly fall into either the red or blue category. (The Fix boss's new book, for example!)
But the map does appear to reaffirm that when it comes to certain mediums, conservative/liberal preference levels don't always mirror what the country does at the ballot box. Talk radio, for example, is a conservative-dominated domain.
While Amazon's map suggests an overall preference for red books, it's notable that Obama's "The Audacity Of Hope" easily outpaced Romney's "No Apology: Believe in America" during the last 30 days.


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- CFOs are increasingly focused on the benefits of automation within supply chain functions as they exit the initial shock period of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a survey of 288 U.S.-based CFOs and financial leaders conducted by PwC during the week of May 4 and released Monday.
- Thirty-four percent of financial leaders surveyed plan to leverage automation to improve the speed and accuracy of decision-making within their supply chains. — up from 26% two weeks ago in the prior edition of PwC's biweekly survey.
- "Companies lost response time during the crisis, and they did not get all the data they needed to make informed decisions around, for example, spending, taking pricing actions to move excess stock or identifying opportunities to shift their mix of offerings," reads the report.
Automation is on the minds of executives across sectors as they look for ways to diminish disruption from future crises or even subsequent waves of COVID-19, PwC U.S. Chairman and Senior Partner Tim Ryan said on a call with media.Thirty-seven percent of CFOs are planning to accelerate automation across functions.
"The initial shock of the virus and its effect on the business community is over. And we're seeing a real shift among executives around focusing on what they can control," Ryan said.
But in the supply chain, CFOs plan to apply automation to improve agility — a quality 72% of CFOs said their organizations expect to develop as a result of the pandemic.
PwC expects to see a focus on automating data collection and analysis regarding supply chain effectiveness, Amity Millhiser, PwC vice chair and chief clients officer said on the call. Despite the possible influx of automation in response to the coronavirus, PwC also predicts supply chain management skills will be more in demand.
Using supply chain performance as an indicator of resiliency, and not merely cost management, combined with a new awareness of the value of supply chain management talent could shift training priorities, according to PwC.
Likewise, a recently released report from McKinsey found the pandemic will lead to a dedicated risk management function within many supply chains.
"Working alongside the manufacturing, procurement, and supply-chain functions, these units assess vulnerabilities across supply nodes and apply robust risk-mitigation frameworks to address those vulnerabilities," according to McKinsey analysts. Digitization will help organizations create this new function without incurring prohibitive costs, the analysts wrote.


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MILAN — Gianni Versace SpA and IT Holding SpA said they are extending their licensing deal for the Versace Jeans Couture line and teaming up to launch a new high-tech collection called Versace Sport.
IT Holding's license to produce and distribute Versace Jeans Couture was set to expire in 2007 but the pact now extends through the fall 2012 season. The new Versace Sport collection will bow for fall 2006. Its licensing agreement will also expire with the fall 2012 season.
The announcement does not affect the future of Versus. IT Holding produces and distributes that line through 2007. Versace has stopped showing the diffusion line on the runway, and Versace chief executive officer Giancarlo Di Risio has said the company needs to focus creative resources on the namesake Versace ready-to-wear line as the company restructures to reduce its losses. Those developments have led some to speculate the line could be phased out altogether.
A spokesman for Barabino & Partners, the public relations agency that represents both IT Holding and Versace, said that it's "business as usual" regarding Versus.
IT Holding said in its statement the two companies have outlined a series of innovative projects in terms of style, product, distribution and store concepts for the jeans and sport lines. The companies' spokesman declined to give sales forecasts. More information on the lines could come Monday, when IT Holding reports first-half numbers.
IT Holding president and ceo Tonino Perna said in a statement that the deal with Versace would contribute to his company's "leadership in the younger lines segment and the consolidation of its license portfolio through long-term contracts."
In a Versace statement, Di Risio said the company's working relationship with IT Holding, which initiated in 1989, has been a fruitful one for both parties.
"Today [the relationship] has been strengthened to develop a new line — Versace Sport — which fits into our brand portfolio reorganization," he said. Di Risio is a former ceo of IT Holding.
The renewal is a significant development for IT Holding. In July, Dolce & Gabbana said it was ending its 12-year licensing pact with IT Holding for the production of the D&G diffusion line. Dolce & Gabbana will produce the line in-house beginning with the spring 2007 collection.IT Holding owns the Gianfranco Ferré fashion house as well as the Exte and Malo brands. Its Ittierre subsidiary holds production and distribution licenses for Just Cavalli and C'N'C Costume National.
From overseeing America’s fastest-growing speciality retailers to codifying cool, WWD talked to the women who are leading the way for the future of beauty. Check out our Instagram Stories to see how these women built today and are creating tomorrow. (📸: @hannah_khymych) #wwdbeauty
For @laperlalingerie's spring 2018 show, the brand chose to host their event at @thevenetianmacao. With Chinese megastars @bingbing_fan and @hubing in attendance, La Perla debuted a rock ‘n’ roll-inspired collection. The show marked the start of Sands Macao Fashion Week, which runs from October 19 to 24 — the city’s first such event. Pictured here are models backstage with glimmering eyes. #wwdfashion (📷: Cheuk-Yin To)
Trending for spring 2018: top stitch design. Gone are the days of stitch just for seams — designers are using the once-minimal detail to create strong decorative elements. (📷: Paola Testa; Styled by @andrew_shang) #wwdfashion
@tradesy is turning the concept of a showroom upside down with its new space in Santa Monica. Here, the company plans to hold events, art exhibits and a showcase rare fashion pieces like this Louis Vuitton boxing set. Get all the details on Tradesy’s first showroom on WWD.com. #wwdnews
Spotted last night at the @erdem x @hm launch event: Kate Bosworth, Rashida Jones, Kirsten Dunst and Selma Blair. The party, which took place in LA, also marked the opening of their pop-up shop. “I was interested in creating a collection that wasn’t in any way disposable. It was about pieces you’d create and keep forever, things that have a permanence to it,” designer Erdem Moralioglu said. #wwdeye (📷: Katie Jones)
Renee Zellweger in yellow in 2001 and again in 2017. Chosen as one of the 12 @pantone Leading Spring Colors (and dubbed “Meadowlark”), it only makes sense that the bright hue stands the test of time and is making a resurgence this season, seen already on stars like @blakelively and @gigihadid. (📷: Donato Sardello & @rexfeatures) #wwdfashion #tbt
Dior’s 70th anniversary celebration continues with a new exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. “Christian Dior,” which is scheduled to run through March 18, takes a look at the founders tenure from 1947 to 1057 and feature 40 designs. Pictured here is an evening gown from the Ailée, fall 1948-49 haute couture collection. #wwdfashion (📷: Brian Boyle)


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Sign up for our daily recaps of the ever-changing search marketing landscape.
Google SMS Search Is Down … For The Count?
Search Engine Roundtable reports today that Google’s SMS Search service isn’t working: When you send a search term to 466453, Google quickly replies that your query “did not return any results.” Barry Schwartz used “Lakers” and “RustyBrick” as examples to show what’s happening:
The SER report says Google is looking into the problem, but the situation begs a bigger question: With so many users now switching to smartphones with more realistic browser experiences, how many people are still using SMS search? And, if the service is being used less frequently, is it possible SMS search is down for the count?
The answer to the last question is “probably not,” because there are still a lot of non-smartphone owners and Google needs to reach that audience. But, for how long?
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.


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A lot of changes go on behind the scenes at video game companies, and when certain things lead to cancelations and closures, a lot of things tend to happen. For example, Capcom had a studio up in Vancouver, Canada, and that team was in charge of many games and titles. However, earlier this year, Capcom decided to restructure a lot of the studio, and laid off a lot of people. And because of that, many titles, including a Dead Rising title, were canceled. Capcom has now revealed that they are going to be taking a loss due to the restructuring of the studio.
In a post on their site, they noted that they are going to be losing about $40 million dollars due to the loss of the Dead Rising game, among other titles. And that this loss will be defined in their fiscal report that will be ending at the end of March 2019.
Capcom has been focused as of late in ensuring that there would be quality content coming from all of their studios, and in their eyes, the Vancouver studio needed some work. But if there is one spec of light in all of this, it’s that their losses won’t be so bad as Monster Hunter World (fresh off of its PC release) is still killing it sales wise:
“Regarding Capcom’s full-year business forecast, due to factors including the continued robust performance of the PC version of Monster Hunter: World exceeding the company’s expectations since its release on the Steam platform in August, following the blockbuster performance of the title after its initial release in January of this year, the forecast for Capcom’s consolidated business results remains the same as what was projected at the financial results announcement on May 8, 2018,” read the press release.
We’ll have to wait and see if the losses and gains balance out.


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Eddie Yoon is a Principal with The Cambridge Group. Eddie is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on helping companies find and fully monetize Superconsumers: highly passionate and profitable customers to accelerate growth, drive category growth and even create new categories. Linda Deeken is the Chief Marketing Officer of The Cambridge Group. She has been published in Harvard Business Review, among other publications, and has been a key contributor to several books recently released by The Cambridge Group.
Strength in the overall economy, consumer confidence and the Trump administration’s pro-business agenda buoyed CEO confidence in August, even as worry persists about rising economic headwinds in the near future.


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A new boat shoe will be hitting the docks this spring (2014) —the SS14 collection, the result of a recently announced partnership between British shoemaker Clarks and offshore sailing powerhouse Musto. Hopefully, the combination of Clarks’s nearly 200 years of shoemaking experience and Musto’s 50 years of outfitting boaters will produce a shoe that is both comfortable and functional.
Power & Motoryacht’s Editor-at-Large Capt. Richard Thiel, who steered the direction of the magazine as Editor-in-Chief for 25 years, passed away recently. Now Executive Editor Capt. Bill Pike shares memories of his colleague and friend.
Read what he had to say here. ▶


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HRH The Duchess of Cambridge was admitted at 06.00hrs to St Mary’s Hospital, Paddington, London and is in the early stages of labour.
Red Bull are never one to shy away from the action, known for their ‘out of this world’ events. This week, we came across Red Bull’s Vine documenting a world first with snowboarder Billy Morgan landing the first ever snowboard Quadruple Cork. Take a look at this toe-curling six-second Vine.
Share other #HungryMistakes with us. #EatASNICKERS pic.twitter.com/h0qbXCUU0e
She’s here! Congratulations to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on their healthy baby girl. #RoyalBaby pic.twitter.com/H3yqqTg5vY
Did you know that on April 28th, Twitter reported $388 million in ad sales during the first quarter of the year – a 72% increase over last year? Furthermore, 89% of this ad revenue was generated from mobile devices.
FMCG brand Mondelez International have revealed plans to convert all of their digital media investments into buying opportunities. They plan to add ‘Buy It Now’ buttons to their digital marketing channels across the globe, from website product pages to all of Mondelez’s social media channels.
An impressive way to capitalise on impulse purchases!In honour of Military Appreciation Month, KIND Snacks and tech start-up Bond have joined forces to send thoughtful messages to US military members or veterans to thank them for their service.
They’ve created a robot which will turn Tweets into handwritten notes, all Twitterers have to do is use the hashtag #ThanksKindly. Plus for every Tweet sent using the hashtag KIND are donating $1 to Cell Phones For Soldiers.
Every day at 12, our staff taste test London Pride. It’s a tough job, #TweetAt12 to lend us a helping hand. pic.twitter.com/kCv9Xw1ce3
This week in digital marketing we’ve seen brands fix their focus on connecting their offline marketing efforts with online. We’ve got Snickers stickering NYC with a hilarious guerilla marketing campaign, a British brewery giving away free London Pride, and brands around the world getting in touch with their dark side to celebrate #MayThe4th. With babies, beer, and extreme sports – this week’s round-up is too tasty to miss. Snickers Sticker NYC with #HungryMistakes
You can stop looking. We found them. #StarWarsDay #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/WWG2YIN9Yx
The first UK May Bank holiday took place this week and had a little extra star quality this year (excuse the bad pun), as Star Wars fans around the world celebrated May the 4th! Share favourite brand Tweets about the topic, we will.
Twitter played a prominent role in the birth of the royal baby, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge taking announcements into their own hands – or smartphones at least. The Kensington Palace Twitter account was the main source of news about the #RoyalBaby for the media and public, Tweeting their very own 140-character updates for the press (and the rest of the world).
BBDO told AdWeek that they had creatives scouring Manhattan for the most absurd fails to make the campaign as hilarious as possible. Snickers shared the pictures of these mistakes on their own channels with the dedicated hashtag, inviting fans to share their own #HungryMistakes. From their online activity to their offline Snickers have achieved a truly integrated and engaging campaign.
Whataburger represents all that is good in the universe. #MayThe4thBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/SkJp0nt9Iv
Only one thing can justify silly mistakes: being hungry. Show us your #HungryMistakes. #EatASNICKERS pic.twitter.com/psANbNAxBc
Have you seen any other brands on social media that grabbed your attention this week? Let us know in the comments.
Twitter users were the first to know when the Duchess Kate Middleton went into labour, when she had given birth, and what they had decided to name the newborn Princess Charlotte. The monarchy using Twitter as their primary communication channel for updates on the Royal family goes a long way to establishing Twitter as a global breaking news source.
We all make mistakes when we’re hungry. Share other #HungryMistakes with us. #EatASNICKERS pic.twitter.com/kh6jU2fCly
Snickers Sticker NYC With #HungryMistakes, #MayThe4thBeWithYou & Tweet For London Pride
Happy #StarWarsDay! Who’s done this Jedi Door Trick? pic.twitter.com/ZcajkoG8IT
The campaign was run by creative agency BBDO, and involved the brand patrolling the streets of NYC in search of amusing mistakes. They highlighted these life fails with Snickers branded stickers saying ‘You make mistakes when you’re hungry’.
To celebrate the arrival of a second #RoyalBaby, here’s a couple of our favourite Tweets from Disney and British Airways.
Nutty chocolatiers Snickers grabbed our attention this week with a guerrilla marketing campaign that planted the brand across the streets of New York… literally.
British brewer Fuller’s have been using social media to drum up interest in London Pride, with a Twitter campaign that invites fans to #TweetAt12 for a chance to win a free pint. The campaign, created with the help of The Corner, will be running for the next two weeks and will feature a mix of offline and online activiy, including ads in local London newspapers. Tweet the hashtag to @London_Pride, and enjoy a free Friday night pint at one of the Fuller’s pubs in London.


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One of the hottest segments of legal tech is contract lifecycle management, which is becoming an increasingly competitive market with numerous vendors jockeying for their share, and where there has been a spate of notable investments over the past year, including the $100 million funding of Ironclad at a valuation of nearly $1 billion.
Given this state of the market, it is notable that the technology directory G2 has released its latest grid scores for contract management software. G2 says the scores represent “the democratic voice of real software users” and are created algorithmically based on data sourced from product reviews, online sources, and social networks.
Based on that analysis, G2 calculates scores for each company in two categories, satisfaction and market presence.
In G2’s just-released Fall 2021 Grid Report for the category Contract Lifecycle Management, G2 rated four companies as leaders:
In the report for the category Contract Management Software, G2 rated seven companies as leaders:
G2 also publishes a separate Relationship Index, which rates vendors based on factors such as customers’ reported each of doing business with the vendor, satisfaction with the product’s quality of support, and customers’ likelihood of recommending a product.
In the latest ranking for the contract lifecycle management category, the three top-ranked companies were:
- Conga Contracts.
In the contract management category, the three top-ranked companies were:
You can find all of these grid and relationship reports at g2.com/reports.


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An exchange-traded product (ETP) with a combination of bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH) is going live tomorrow on Switzerland’s primary stock exchange SIX.
Fintech firm Amun AG and cryptocurrency custodian Bitcoin Suisse AG have partnered to launch the ETP, which will allow Swiss investors to add a basket of BTC and ETH to their portfolios, according to a press release shared with The Block on Thursday. Currently, the basket composition of the product is 90% of BTC and 10% of ETH.
The ETP goes with the ticker symbol ABBA for trading on SIX. “This physically-backed ETP is fully collateralized, which means that for every bitcoin and ether bought for the ETP, there will be an equal corresponding crypto amount stored securely in the Bitcoin Suisse Vault,” said Amun AG.
Hany Rashwan, co-founder and CEO of Amun said that the product has been designed for the Swiss by the Swiss to answer a need for a Swiss Franc (CHF)-denominated ETP. “It represents a unique way for investors to add the two major cryptocurrencies globally to their portfolio via a regulated product listed on SIX and backed by a Swiss-based custodian.”
With today’s launch, Amun AG now has a total of seven cryptocurrency ETP products listed on the SIX exchange. These include an XRP-based ETP, a BTC-based ETP, a bitcoin cash (BCH)-based ETP, an ETH-based ETP, the Amun Crypto Basket Index ETP and Amun Bitwise Select 10 Large Cap Crypto Index ETP.


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One of the most troubled video games released in recent memory has another problem added to its convoluted release history, as the open-world detective game known as The Sinking City is the subject of a dispute — where the developers Frogwares say their former licensee Nacon cracked and pirated their game.
In a video released by Frogwares, they detail how the version that went up on Steam was deceptively uploaded without their knowledge and distributed to key PC retailers.
In a very detailed post in their official website, Frogwares outlines how Nacon cracked, hacked, and changed the source code of their game — accusing their former licensee of stealing and selling it without their permission.
Nacon decided to steal and pirate our game and they did so while leaving giant digital footprints.
Nacon has proved they are willing to do anything possible to serve their interest, including illegal actions. They ignored the decision of the Justice and bypassed them, pirating The Sinking City in order to deceive their partners, Steam in the first place.
But what is the bigger picture now? What happens now that our contracting party stole our assets and can use them their own way without any limits?
There are long term damages we need to take care of, Nacon unpacked our data, stole our source code and used it. Nacon can create a new version of The Sinking City using our assets; they can resell, reuse, recycle our content and our tools etc.
We have to take the measure of what happened now and follow the best path on the legal side to prevent anything like this happening again.
Certainly not a fun position to be in, and a rather strange one for that matter. Usually you hear about developers and publishers complaining about users cracking their own game, but to have a big corporate company such as Nacon do just that? Yeah, probably not gonna fair well with anyone here. If we hear anything more on the subject, we’ll be sure to update or release a new post, so stay tuned!


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Combining a mature and dark love story about the repercussions of infidelity with fast-paced puzzle-platforming may sound like a confusing recipe for disaster, but nine years ago a certain studio in ATLUS somehow managed to make it work with 2011’s Catherine. Fast-forward to the present day, and we now have Catherine: Full Body, a re-release of the bold classic that introduces an entirely new character, Rin, to the narrative, along with a plethora of new endings and gameplay extras – but just how well does this title hold up on the Nintendo Switch in 2020?
Atlus has shared a new gameplay trailer of the Catherine Full Body demo for Nintendo Switch.
Demos for two upcoming Nintendo Switch titles have been released on the Japanese Nintendo eShop on June 11, 2020.
Wondering if your brain can handle the labyrinthine depths of Catherine: Full Body on Nintendo Switch?
Atlus has announced the release date for the Catherine Full Body demo for Nintendo Switch.
SEGA has kicked off digital pre-orders for Catherine: Full Body on Nintendo Switch today.
Atlus has revealed a couple of interesting details for the Nintendo Switch version of Catherine Full Body that is launching July 2, 2020 in Japan.


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Just under 400 people involved in the research say cannabis reduced the severity of their immediate PTSD symptoms by more than half.
A Hawaii News Now investigation found that many of the cartridges would be banned in other US states for failing to meet safety standards.
The seized cannabis will go on to support the research and development of cannabis oil for medical purposes.
Sales of recreational marijuana in the United States have nearly resumed pre-pandemic levels, according to the cannabis market research firm BDSA.
And after compiling and comparing the cannabis-related social equity policies of every US state, the report from Transform Drug Policy Foundation found some regions lacking.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has downgraded the projections for the state’s legal cannabis tax revenue for this year and the next.
The new study compared the urine tests of cannabis consumers with their medical history, and found no association between the drug and the risk of having a stroke.
South Africa’s health minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has amended the country’s drug laws to increase the availability of certain CBD products.


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The truck market in the U.S. is very important. This is not a buyer base you want to upset when introducing a new truck, which is why the new 2017 Super Duty poses a risk for Ford.
It's completely new for 2017, and its body is made of aluminum.
Last week we asked you via a Twitter poll whether it mattered that the new 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty was aluminum. The results? 53 percent of you said "Nope. Metal is metal," while 47 percent of you said "Absolutely! Game changer."
Does it matter that the new 2017 Ford Super Duty is aluminum like the F-150?— CarConnection (@CarConnection) August 2, 2016
The reality is that Ford already laid the ground work for the material switch with its latest F-150, which is also made of aluminum. According to Ford, the material switch hasn't hurt sales one bit, and the automaker points out that the material's lighter weight is a boon for fuel economy.
It's here we'll note that we've had issues meeting Ford's advertised fuel economy with both the new aluminum F-150 and other Ecoboost-powered vehicles. In the real world, a turbocharged engine guzzles gas quickly whenever the turbocharger is spooled up under heavy acceleration.
Arch rival GM recently went after the F-150 in an advertising blitz attacking the truck for being made out of aluminum. Of course, the next month F-150 sales were still up, leaving one to question whether GM's attack was worth it—especially since the next-gen Silverado will likely include extensive use of aluminum in its construction.
We digress: it likely doesn't mater that the new Super Duty is made out of aluminum. And you seem to agree. All the important numbers are up, from paypload to towing capacity. What's more, it actually drives better than the last-gen truck, as we recently found out.
Will it sell? You bet, and Ford's counting on it.


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Atoms for Peace -- the all-star collaboration that includes Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke and bassist Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers -- is treating us to another cut from their debut album, Amok .
After posting a stream of “ Default ” and offering a free download of the non-album B-side, “What the Eyeballs Did,” Atoms for Peace has now dropped a new video for “ Judge Jury and Executioner .” The three-minute animated clip features the song accompanied by a number of swirling geometric shapes and flashing lights that are timed to the music, created by audiovisual composer Tarik Barri .
While Amok won’t arrive in stores until February 26, “Judge Jury and Executioner” is now available for purchase at iTunes . In addition, “Judge Jury and Executioner” will be released on 12” vinyl, along with exclusive non-album B-side “S.A.D,” on March 19.
Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio


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The Anglo-Swedish drug group has agreed to pay HMRC £505m in order to settle a 15 year long tax dispute.
The disagreement related to the issue of transfer pricing which is the amount of money a company pays in order to buy goods from its overseas subsidiaries.
Companies are supposed to charges market rate for those internal transactions. However, HMRC believe that large companies are using transfer pricing to charge false prices for internal transfers and move the profits to low-tax countries in order to avoid paying corporation tax.
AstraZeneca has set aside £890m to settle the dispute and, because the settlement figure is lower, they have now revised their estimated profits for next year.
They will pay £350m next month and the outstanding balance in March 2011.
The row had been due to be taken to the UK Tax Court later this year but all litigation has now been dropped.
Many tax experts and companies were hoping the case would go to court in order to get clear guidelines on HMRC policies.
But, as in previous cases, HMRC have settled meaning that the instructions for this type of case are still hazy.


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All good things come to an end. While Windows 7 has been a favourite among many companies for almost a decade now, the operating system is coming to the end of its life in January 2020 — just three months from now. Many people will be sad to see it go, but here at Somerbys IT, we want to help you make the right decision for the next steps for your company.
What happens to Window 7 after January?
Computers and systems won’t stop working, but Microsoft will stop providing:
● Technical support for any issues
● Software updates
● Security updates or fixes
What does that mean for your company?
The BIG point here is that without security and software updates, your system will become significantly more vulnerable, meaning you’re at higher risk of viruses and cyber attacks — and the disruption they can cause. Reports show that over 70% of cyber attacks target small businesses, and up to 60% of these go out of business in the six months that follow.
Within three or four months, it’s highly probable that the apps and systems you use will be out of date and some will become unusable. It’s exactly the same as what happens when you have an old mobile phone that’s no longer supported. But this is your business and your livelihood — and Somerbys IT wants to protect you.


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Why ComiXology ditched Apple's in-app purchase system
Moises Chiullan |
April 30, 2014
ComiXology made some big changes over the weekend, removing in-app purchase from its iOS app. In the same breath, the digital comics reader added in-app purchase capabilities to its Android app, using its own payment processor rather than Google's. These moves come less than a month after Amazon bought ComiXology, adding fuel to the speculative fire about why ComiXology is overhauling its mobile offerings.
So from ComiXology's perspective, having Apple in place as a middleman was a choice, not a requirement. And over time, the choice became less attractive for the company. Some industries can support giving away 30 percent of their sales; the comics industry, where the margins are razor thin as it is, cannot. Comics need fewer middlemen, not more. And that's why ComiXology moved in a new direction.